


Pain and Recovery

by Arytra



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kira also needs a lot of hugs, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, References to Forced Cloning as Rape, References to Mind Control as Rape, Team as Family, Trent needs a lot of hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 20:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4113454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trent went through a lot as the White Ranger and it affected him more than was shown.  He just needs to see that he doesn't have to heal alone.  His friends will help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pain and Recovery

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been doing a lot of thinking on cloning, mind control, and the like in fiction. I've also been reading a lot of DC stuff and that made its way in. The point is, I'm kinda sick of this being treated like a non-thing. It's a huge thing! Domination and lack of autonomy is horrible and should be treated as such. So I wrote this fic.

Trent curled himself up in the chair, trying to make himself smaller even though no one was there to see. He’d put on a brave face, but it was starting to catch up with him. He rubbed his face as he sat in the café which was empty fortunately as Hayley had asked him to lock up earlier as a point to the others that he could be trusted. He was grateful for it. He pulled out some paper and pens and began sketching. “Green Lantern, huh?”

Trent jumped at the question as he turned to face Ethan who was looking down at the paper with a curious expression on his face. Kira was grabbing some a few smoothies while Conner dumped an armload of chocolate in front of Trent. Trent couldn’t help but to feel confused considering that all three had informed him he was washing the Zords earlier after letting him stick around. Something that Hayley had very quickly assured him he hadn’t needed to do and could he please lock up so she could ki- talk to Tommy. “What’s this?”

There was silence from Kira and Ethan as they tried to figure out what they wanted to say. “It’s a ‘We were thinking exactly like Conner so we can’t get on his case’ present,” Conner said smoothly. Both of the other two glared at him and Trent just looked confused. “That’s what I’m calling it.”

“What he mean is,” Kira said, glaring even harder at Conner before giving Trent a smile. “We weren’t thinking about how everything was affecting you.”

She seemed to want to say more than that, but looked uncomfortable. Trent decided against pushing it. Ethan nodded. “We sorta forgot what you went through.”

Trent blinked a couple of times, but Ethan looked as uncomfortable as Kira. Conner sighed and sat down next to him. “We could use some muffins,” he said to the other two.

Ethan looked at Kira, giving her a shrug. “Your choice,” he offered. Kira nodded and the two headed over to the counter while Conner leaned in. Trent was wishing he could run.

“Do you remember how Kira picked the wrong dino fossil and went nuts?” Conner asked. Trent nodded once as Conner looked over his shoulder toward Kira who was rolling her eyes and motioning for him to just do it. “Yeah, so Kira acted like it was okay and Ethan and I found her crying in the lair when she thought everyone was gone. Turns out, getting your mind taken over really sucks. She said a lot of stuff, but I’ve heard it before. It was like she was raped.”

Trent’s head whipped up and he looked in the direction of Kira before looking back at Conner. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, but missing the point,” Conner said sternly. “Kira was affected for a day. You were affected for a long time.”

Trent tried to force a smile. “Conner…”

“Don’t,” Conner stated, giving a nod to his companions to come back. Even though she hadn’t been there, Kira’s face looked a little more white as it was clear she was still dealing with some stuff that Ethan and Conner were helping her with. “I’m not saying you have to talk about it. That’s up to you. But if you need to? We’re here. Kira says chocolate helps.”

“I said it helped me, Conner,” she said dryly. “Not everyone.”

“Uh… thanks?” Trent asked. “I’m okay…”

Conner nodded and shrugged, looking at the other two. Ethan looked at the table, swallowed, and then looked at Trent. “Offers always open.”

“But if you’re not comfortable, don’t worry about it,” Kira said, glaring at both boys before she took a candy bar. Conner looked insulted.

“That’s Trent’s!” He exclaimed. Kira gave him a look.

“No one can eat this much candy,” she informed him. Trent wasn’t listening to the rest of the conversation, not really. Instead, he picked up one of the pieces of candy to snack on while getting back to his drawing. He tried not to feel too pleased when Ethan chatted with him about it as the subject that had been affecting him was dropped.

***

“Kira?” The Yellow Ranger looked up at him. Trent tried not to look to nervous. “Can we talk?”

She set her guitar to the side. “What’s up?”

“Nevermind,” he said quickly, but Kira grabbed his wrist.

“What’s up?” She asked again, more firmly this time. This was a bad idea and he knew it, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“What was it like when you were under the fossil’s control?” He managed to say and then looked at the floor. He knew that he shouldn’t. Ethan and Conner had made sure not to drag her into it. Conner had, for the Power’s sake. And yet, here he was breaking it because he wanted some reassurance. He wasn’t sure if he wasn’t still evil. Kira closed her eyes, gaining control and then looked at him.

“Horrible,” she answered, trying to mask the pain and sound neutral. “I had no autonomy. I was forced to hurt people I loved. I stole from Doctor O. And then I found out that he’d helped make it. I didn’t want to hurt Doctor O by telling him, so I tried to hide it. That ended when I hid in the lair and threw up for 2 hours.”

She folded her arms and rubbed them slightly before dropping them back to her side. Trent felt sick for asking her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

“What was it like for you?” She asked. He realized at that point why she’d answered. When she did, she felt better about asking him. He wasn’t sure if either of them were in the right here, but she had told him and now he felt obligated to tell her. They had to be the most screwed up team ever. He didn’t care what Ethan would argue using Doctor O’s note. Doctor O wasn’t always right.

“It reached in and forced out all of these terrible things,” he answered, his voice hitching at the words. He tried to regain control of himself. “I tried to kill you and inside, I was just screaming, Kira. I was begging you to kill me and I couldn’t even tell you guys that.”

He swallowed at that. The memories still ran through his head and he had nightmares that he’d succeeded or that they had. He tried to force it back, but when he looked back up, Kira was looking at him. She held out her hand which he took and she squeezed it. “I’m here,” was all she said. She didn’t say a word when a couple of tears fell down his cheek. She only squeezed his hand harder before pulling him into a hug.

***

“So… clones,” Ethan said as he sat down next to Trent. Trent jumped at that, not sure what to say. “Kinda sucks when they happen.”

Trent snorted. “You’re worse than Conner sometimes,” he informed him. Ethan relaxed.

“For once, I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “I heard you muttering that he wasn’t like you.”

Trent winced at that. “Did anyone else hear?”

“No,” Ethan assured him. “He’s not. And he’s not your fault.”

Trent blinked. “Thanks?”

Ethan nodded. “Do you remember when Superman had a kid?”

“Kon-El?” Trent asked. Ethan nodded. “Yeah.”

“I never really thought about it, but cloning like that is taking something from someone and making a new person out of it. Superman ended up with the younger person who was created from him without his consent and everyone just expected him to be okay with it. Because it was a person and his responsibility. No counseling or time or anything like that. No one considered that maybe some of the others could help out and that at least Batman could get help from the Kents. They just expected him to buck up and deal with it, but I don’t think everyone can. And they shouldn’t have to.”

Trent gave a small smile at that. “It’s not as easy as it looks,” he admitted. “Just accepting it happened and they’re there.”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah. Look, Kira and Conner? They don’t follow comics which is why they now have my comics hidden in their school books.”

“You couldn’t just talk to them?” Trent teased.

“I will when they bring them back and tell me they’re not going to read them,” he answered. “Point is, Supes should have had some time to deal with it. We can’t hide your clone from you, but we can distract you with movies and snack food when we’re done because you shouldn’t have to deal with it either.”

“Thanks, Ethan,” Trent said honestly. Ethan nodded.

“Not your fault and no more your problem than the rest of ours. We’re your family now,” he said firmly. Trent’s head shot up.

“Does that mean I have to talk to Doctor O?” He asked. Ethan snorted.

“Do the Robins talk to Batman?” He asked. Trent looked at him. “He’s the Black Ranger, he lives in a cave, he has knowledge of all the other superheroes we know. He’s Batman.”

“So which Robin are you?” Trent asked, amused and pleased to change the subject.

“Tim,” he answered. “Conner is so Dick and Kira is like Barbara. And Hayley is Alfred.”

“Definitely,” he answered and looked crestfallen. “So I’m Jason?”

Ethan looked a little uncomfortable. “I thought more like Cass.”

Trent thought about it for a minute and then nodded. “I can live with that. Have you told the others?”

“Nope,” he answered. Trent relaxed.

“Good,” he said, leaning into Ethan. Ethan didn’t move from the spot.

“We can’t have any more Rangers though,” Ethan said. “Because we’re running out of people.”

“I dare you to tell that to Doctor O.”

“No.”

***

Conner was the one who found him when everything just broke. Trent had made it to the café and had gotten in without telling Hayley as he sat in the corner and just let himself cry. All of it had finally just crashed on him. He knew that the others had been worried, even if they were trying to mask it, but he hadn’t wanted to deal with it. Now, he was paying for that tenfold.

He wasn’t sure why Conner was there, only that he was with his arms filled with the most random assortment of comics that Trent had ever seen. It was like he’d gone to the comic book store and had just randomly grabbed them off the shelf. Trent looked at Conner and forced back a laugh. That was probably exactly what he’d done. Conner just dropped them in front of him and sat down across.

“Kira likes chocolate,” he informed him. “For two weeks after, I just kept a chocolate bar on me in case she needed it.”

Trent nodded, but didn’t trust himself to say anything. They were quiet for a minute before Conner spoke up again. “It’s harder to keep comics on me.”

“You don’t have…” he started but Conner shook his head.

“I want to help,” he said. “But I haven’t been through it like Kira and I don’t notice things like Ethan. But I know comics make you happy and that you want to be a comic writer, so comics.”

Trent wanted to inform him that it was Conner, not the other two, who was here now. That he was trying to do what he could and that Trent was grateful for it. That he didn’t know what to do either and it was happening to him. He wanted to, but he couldn’t get the words out. Instead, he just looked at Conner and hoped that it would get across. When Conner pulled him into a hug, he guessed it had.

***

It slowly got better. He was able to look at his wrist without being scared of what might happen or feeling guilt over what had. He began to look at the Power as a friend instead of the thing that took months of his life away. It was slow going, but it still happened. When the cloned White Ranger was defeated, his friend threw him an ice cream party that Hayley had been happy to help pay for. She leaned in. “I’m here,” she said. “But I think you need them.”

He smiled. “You kept Doctor O off my back,” he said quietly. “That helped.”

She nodded. “Next time, ask for the key,” she said firmly. He blinked. “I’ll let you in.”

“Thanks,” he said honestly before he was dealing with three thrilled Rangers on his hands. Before he turned to go with them, he turned back to Hayley. “I might need your help soon.”

“What over?” She asked and he whispered the last secret he had in her ear, watching her eyes widen. She nodded. “We’ll tell them together and then you and I are going to have a talk about secrets that are okay to keep and when you need to tell someone who can help.”

He just nodded, though he’d done just that. If he knew Hayley, the secret of his father would be out in the open by the end of the week. He knew that he should have told her sooner, that he should have told all of them sooner, but trust was hard especially right now. The look in Hayley’s eyes told him that she understood. As he joined his friends who had answered the call that he’d silently let out, he felt that they all would understand even if they were mad at first. That’s what family does.


End file.
